Automatic choke-valve.



PATENTED APR. 28, 1903. F.IW. EDWARDS. AUTOMATIC CHOKE VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31, 1901.

11 A i A I G 1 F A W r: 6 Wm v A A v 6 9 A W d no MODEL.

Warren hirnirns PATENT tribe.

FRANK vV. EDWARDS, OF LOGANSPORT, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHICAGO LUBRICATOR COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A COR- PORATION OF ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC CHOKE-VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,415, dated April 28, 1903. Application filed December 31, 1901. Serial No. 87,898. (No model.)

1'0 all whom, itmay concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Logansport, in the county of Cass and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatic Choke-Valves, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to automatic chokevalves for use in combination with a lubricator for supplying lubricant t steam-engines and other apparatus.

The invention comprises a novel form of plug and a casing therefor of novel construction, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is an elevation and partial section of sufficient of a locomotive boiler, engine, and lubricator to show the application of my invention, the choke-valve being in vertical section with the plug on its lower seat. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of part of the choke-valve with the plug raised. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the upper member of the casing. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the plug. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the lower member of the casing. Fig. 6 is an inner plan view of the easing member, Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. -7 is a perspective view of the plug.

1 may represent a steam-chest, with slidevalve and p'orts,of any approved construction.

2 is a fragment of a boiler.

3 is a pipe leading from the steam-space of the boiler to the fitting 4, which communicates through pipe 5 with the lubricator-condenser 6 and also through pipe 7 with the oilreceiving chamber 8 ofthe upper feed-arm 9 of the lubricaton' The supply of steam is controlled by valve 10 in steam-pipe 3. V The tallow or oil-delivery pipe 11 is coupled to the chamber 8 and thence extends to and is connected with my novel choke-valve, herein shown as applied directly to the steam-chest.

The choke-valve of this invention comprises a casing whose upper member 12, Figs.

2, 3, and 6, has a port 13 opening into a chamber 14, larger than the port, and said cham ber in turn opens into a still larger chamber 15, the upper portion of which has the-inwardly-projecting vertical lugs or wings 16. A screw-threaded portion 17 of this casing member is adapted to be engaged with a screwthreaded portion 18 of the lower member 19 of the casing. This lower memberhas a chamber 20 of substantially the diameter of the chamber 14 of the upper member, and from it leads a contracted port 21 of substantially the diameter of the port 13. A screw-thread 22 is adapted to engage a nipple 23 on the steamchest, although the valve may be provided with other means for assembling'it upon the mechanism with which it is used.

The plug 24 (see details Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 7) has, first, a laterally-extended flange 25, provided with five (more or less) notches 26 in its perimeter; second, a turret 27 of slightly less diameter than the distance between opposite wings 16 in the upper casing member and pierced Vertically by four, more or less, holes 28, which terminate in horizontal branches 29 above the flange 25, and, third,

a double-pointed conical projection 30, eX-

tending from each side of the flange and pierced longitudinally by the passage 31,

which extends through the plug.

The lower casing member 19 has a raised rim 32, surrounding the chamber 20, and this rim forms a seat for the plug, and when the plug is assembled between the members of the casing it occupies the chamber 15, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The walls ofthe chamber 15 in the upper member of the casing are turned out smooth, so as to form a guide for the flange of the plug, and the edges of the wings 16 are also turned smooth in order to cooperate with the guiding-surface of the turret portion 27 of the said plug.

The horizontal wall at the bottom of the chamber 14 and adjacent the upper ends of the wings forms a shoulder below said chamber and serves as a stop for the turret, and the lower portions of the wings 16 serve also as stops against which the upper face of the flange 25 abuts when the valve is lifted from its seat on the rim'32, as in Fig. 2.

The wings may be somewhat varied in form from that herein shown, and the additional object of providing them beyond those already described is to permit the free flow of oil through and out of the passages 28 29 as it is being fed into the steam-chest from oildelivery pipe 11.

The operation is as follows: Steam is admitted from the boiler into the pipe 3 by opening valve 10 and passes into the lubricatorcondenser and also passes into pipe 7 through receiving-chamber S and into the oil-delivery or tallow pipe 11 and thence down into the choke-valve on top of the steam-chest. When steam is admitted into the steam-chest and the engine is put into motion, the back pressure formed in the steam-chest when the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 1 will serve to raise the plug and seat the upper edge of its turret against the shoulder below the chamber 14, as shown in Fig. 2. Thus located there is an increased area made available by reason of the fact that the holes or passages 28 29 in the plug communicate with both the chamber in the lower casing and the chamberin the upper casing. The clearance-notches 26, formed in the flange 25 of the plug, complete this increased area, and thereby the oil is permitted to flow through and around the plug into the lower chamber 20 and through the port 21 into the steamchest. When the valve is in this position, Fig. 2, the steam from the steam-chest forms the balancing pressure for the lubricator. When the engine throttle-valve is closed and the engine comes to a stop or when the pressure is reduced in the steam-chest below that of the boiler-pressure, the plug is seated on the rim 32, Fig. 1, which brings into full action the contracted passage 31, and the balancing pressure on the lubricator is then obtained by the action of the steam in the oildelivery pipe. As the contracted passage 31 will not permit the full volume of steam to flow into the steam-chest, such pressure is caused to balance back into the upper feed-arm of the lubricator. The supply of steam coming from the locomotive-boiler is admitted to the lubricator and connections by opening the valve 10, and this is done when the locomotive is ready to starton a trip, and the steam is cut off from the lubricator and connections by closing the said valve 10, and this is done when the locomotive has completed the trip and no further use of the steam is required.

I have thus described one mode of carrying out my invention, but wish to be understood as not limiting my invention to the precise construction of parts illustrated.

In an application for patent filed November 14, 1901, Serial No. 82,329, I have shown essentially the same combination of lubricator, steam connections, and choke-valve as in this case, but with a different form of choke-valve, and I reserve to that case broad claims, if any, for such combination.

In the present construction the valve has a turret projection working within a chamber having, in effect, a corrugated wall, and the lower part of the valve has guide-wings working within a chamber which has a straight wall. The inlet-holes 28 and the outlet-holes 29 serve to establish a full area opening to the steam-chest from chamber 14 when the valve is seated against the upper seat in the body 12. By this construction a double guide for the valve is obtained, which keeps it from side wearing on the seats. There are times when dirt fills into the oil-delivery pipe and lodges in the choke-valve, and this dirt is apt to stop up the passage-way; but the provision of the wings 16 and the large passage-ways through the turret in the present construction avoids the accumulation of the dirt on the guiding-surfaces of the valve and directs the dirt into the bottom of the chamber 15, whence it works out into the steam-chest, thus leaving the choke-valve clean. Still another advantage possessed by the present construction is that the valve cannot be put together wrong.

What I claim is 1. An automatic choke-valve, for engine lubrication, comprising a casing having a series of chambers of different diameters, a choke-plug arranged in the chambers and having a notched flange guided by the Walls of the chamber of largest diameter, and a turret above said flange provided with throughpassages above said flange, and also having a contracted through-and-through passage, and upper and lower seats for said plug in said casing.

2. An automatic choke-valve, comprising a casing having a valve-chamber provided with inwardly-projecting wings, and a chokeplug having a notched flange, a through-passage, and a turret with communicating vertical and lateral perforations above said flange.

3. An automatic choke-valve, comprising a casing having a chamber provided with inwardly-projccting wings whose lower ends form stops, a lower valve-seat, and a plug having a notched flange guided by the walls of the chamber and also having a turret guided by the wings, and provided with communicating longitudinal and lateral holes, the lower ends of the wings cooperating also with the upper surface of the flange to stop the upward movement of the plug.

4. An automatic choke-valve, comprising a casing having a chamber constructed with inwardly-projecting wings, a stop-shoulder on the casing adjacent to the tops of the wings, and the bottom of said wings also forming stops, a valve-seat in the lower part of the casing, and a plug cooperating with the "means 7 3 seat and havingalaterally-projecting notched my hand this 28th day of December, A. D. flange cooperating With the lower shoulder, 1901. and also having a perforated turret above the said flange guided by the wings and 00- 5 operating with the shoulder at the tops of the I Witnesses:

Wings. F. H. WIPPERMAN,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set ELIZABETH HOMBURG.

FRANK W. EDWARDS. 

